Ever wanted to be more anonymous when editing Wikipedia? And be able to move pages, and have a Watch list? All this is possible by creating an account in Wikipedia, and this guide will help you do this! It only takes one minute!
Step 1
Click the "Sign in/create account" link in the upper right corner on the Wikipedia website.
Step 2
Click the link "Create One" above the boxes. This will take you to the account creation page (of course, if you are reading this on line, you could use this link directly instead of following step one and two).
Step 3
Solve the sum. Wikipedia now presents people with a simple sum to solve to prevent against computer activated programs signing up. Do the sum (get a calculator if you must) and move on to the next step.
Step 4
Read the text below all boxes.
Step 5
Enter your desired user name in the "Username:" box. This will be the name of your account.
Step 6
Enter a password in the "Password:" box. Make sure that you can remember your password, but that it would be hard for anyone else to guess.
Step 7
Enter the same password as above in the "Retype password:" box.
Step 8
Enter your e-mail address in the "E-mail" box if you want to. For more information about this, see below in the " Tips " section.
Step 9
Click the big "Create account" button.
Step 10
Congratulations! You are now a registered user in Wikipedia!
Tips
- This guide is written for English Wikipedia mostly. Other language versions of Wikipedia may have slightly different ways to create an account.
- If you wish to create an account in a non-English Wikipedia, but still read the text in English in the Wikipedia, here is good information: in the login page (not the create an account page, but the page before this), there is often a row with the "Other languages" in the language of the Wikipedia, and then some languages (including English). The language name is written in the language (for example, English is written English, French is written Français). If you click your language, the text will be changed to the language.
- The E-mail is there to enable for other registered users to contact you via E-mail. WikiMedia Foundation, the host of Wikipedia, will not spam you.
- If you do not want to leave out your E-mail address, you can create a new one, for instance at Gmail.
- There are many advices regarding proper user name. It is stated in the "Steps" section, but again, please read these before you create an account. If you do not follow the advices, you may be blocked from editing Wikipedia.
- An account that is autoconfirmed has access to all privileges a registered user has which an unregistered user does not have. An account is autoconfirmed after four days (plus 10 edits) from registering. This means that you will have to wait four days and make 10 edits before gaining full privileges as a registered editor.
Warnings
- Never give out your password to anyone. If someone takes control of your account, you probably can not prove this and therefore, you are most likely responsible for what the person who took control of your account did using it.
- The E-mail address, if you enter it, will make you less anonymous.
- Think carefully through if you want to use your real name as user name. Remember that anyone with access to Internet then will have access to your name.
- Remember that once your account is created, it can not be deleted. If you decide to abandon your old account due to privacy issues, simply create a new account with out establishing connection to the old one.
